


End Game

by KoolJack1



Series: Hannibal Kink Meme Prompt Fills [13]
Category: Hannibal (TV), Hannibal Lecter Series - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Friendship, Gen, HeAteUs sadness, Hurt/Comfort, I know we love Hanni but read it and be sad with me, Major character death - Freeform, Sadness, it hurts, scene fic, what if
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-20
Updated: 2014-09-20
Packaged: 2018-02-18 01:38:42
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,007
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2330477
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KoolJack1/pseuds/KoolJack1
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It takes years to find Hannibal again, and even then he doesn't go down without a fight.</p><p>Even though he knows it's a losing battle from the start.</p>
            </blockquote>





	End Game

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this because I've been having some serious writers block and lack of inspiration (as you know if you're currently waiting on my two in progress series), so I was surfing through the kinkmeme in hopes of finding something that might let me stretch the writing wings and get some practice in. This was one, requesting something where instead of being apprehended, Hannibal is shot and killed but not without lingering, along with a few others. This one was just the first completed, it's not edited and not meant to really have a story to it. Just a scene for a writing exercise.
> 
> Here is a link to said prompt: http://hannibalkink.dreamwidth.org/4770.html?thread=7634338#cmt7634338
> 
> One of my notorious unhappy endings x)

When the moment finally comes, the ending that was the only possible outcome, it still feels like a surprise.

Hannibal had fought against them in an effort to escape, despite being outnumbered, outplayed, and surrounded. Will supposed that's what happens at the end, even when you've lost you must fight until it's over. Once he takes out three of their men, it really sets in that the other man will not leave the building alive.

He wonders if Hannibal knows that.

It takes ten minutes for them to finally corner Hannibal, and then Will stands there in the same room and the two gun shots still make him flinch even though he knows they were coming for years. Hannibal never got to turn around, the bullets piercing through his back. In the blink of an eye, Hannibal crumbles to the floor face first and the room goes quiet.

He had expected to feel peace and contentment, wanted to feel that, but instead his heart feels pierced as if he was the one who was shot. Jack lowers his gun and it feels like it's supposed to finally be over.

Only it's not over, Hannibal isn't dead. His breathing is loud and struggled, but he hardly makes an attempt to move. Will can imagine he knows he won't ever get up off that floor again. It's unconscious, the way he feels tugged towards the dying man on the floor. Jack says his name as if to stop him, but Will finds himself kneeling next to the fatally wounded creature on anyway.

Hannibal's dark eyes are fluttering but open, he looks disturbingly young. His breathing is labored and wet, and Will looks down at his back to see where they entered. One hit him dead center between his shoulder blades, and the other in the lower left of his back. It explains his lack of struggle, the damage to his spine preventing him from moving. The wet breathing splutters and he coughs blood onto the floor, and can't move out of it as it pools under his face.

Will swallows heavily, biting his cheek when Hannibal attempts to turn his face. There's a noise of pain; his dark eyes rolling back into unawareness despite the way Hannibal clings to staying awake. Will reaches out to put a hand on the back of Hannibal's head to prevent any further attempts at movement.

The touch rouses Hannibal back and his eyes open again and he blinks slowly at Will, and in that moment he's just a beast who is suffering through it's last minutes of life. Will looks back and doesn't see the face that haunted his nightmares, or the man that gutted him, or his friend. He sees fear and uncertainty, the last waking moments of life being ebbed out and it makes him unbearably sad.

His lips move slightly, but theres no sound; Will hushes him once and Hannibal gives up and chokes for a few more lungfuls of air around the blood in his throat. Will gently scratches Hannibal's scalp with his fingertips when the wet breathes turn to constricted wheezing. Blood oozes from his mouth, and he coughs painfully. The jolt of movement stirs pain and Lecter whines weakly, attempting once more to turn himself to take pressure off his chest. "Easy," Will whispers, holding him in place with no trouble. The word seems to calm the other man down, and he goes boneless against the floor. He wonders fleetingly if Hannibal realizes no one came forward to try to save him, and he wonders what it feels like to be know you're dying and know no one is trying to save you.

To know people will be happy you suffered.

Hannibal's breathing slows and shallows, and yet he blinks up at Will and he finds himself wishing Hannibal would just die and end this. He wishes he could say something else, something comforting about getting to see his family again, but Hannibal doesn't deserve a happy ending. He deserves this ending, and Will feels tears on his face anyway. He can feel the tension slowly leak out of the body under his hand; finally being allowed to rest after a battle well fought. Hannibal goes unnaturally still, and Will removes his hand thinking its over, only to be met with a weak noise of protest and tired fluttering eyelids that reveal unfocused eyes and a single tear that slips down his nose. Will understands and settles his hand back in Hannibal's hair, keeping his hand steady even as Hannibal's body shudders with chills and he struggles to swallow the blood gathering in his mouth. When he chokes and splutters on a mouthful that oozes past his lips to the floor, Will clenches his hand in a solid reminder that he's there and he knows it won't be long now.

When Hannibal finally quits, it isn't extravagant or extraordinary. He doesn't make a sound or even heave a final breath. One second he is struggling and the next his heart stops and the life is gone. An ending like the period at the end of a novel, quiet and simple. His mouth and eyes are still open, the blood that was pooling in his throat flowing freely onto the wood; it feels strange that in death Hannibal Lecter was the same as everyone else. Will finally looks up, sniffling back his sadness and realizes everyone had left the room besides Jack. Will doesn't comment that even he looks anguished by the scene, as if Hannibal's life had served as two separate entities for him as well. After death the rest didn't matter, and right now would be their only moments to mourn the death of a friend before they had to celebrate the victory over a monster. Will strokes Hannibal's hair from his face and gently closes his eyelids in a tiny act of respect before he stands to leave. The teacup had been shattered, and it could not be fixed.

His scar burns for days later.

**Author's Note:**

> I love Hannibal if anything ever happens to him my heart will be skewered so live long my dear cannibal I just had to kill you once sorry.


End file.
